Daily life in a South Dakota town during the Great Depression, shot by Ivan Besse.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Besse (Ivan)
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Si, B&W
Keywords: Amateur films; Home movies; South Dakota: Everyday life

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: donwert - - May 31, 2010
Subject: Long Ago & Far Away
Another silent and B&W film of everyday life in the small town of Britton, SD. This community in northeastern SD is in a farming region and the town was no doubt dependent on agriculture. Considering that the Depression still prevailed and that this area had recently experienced Dust Bowl conditions, the people appear to be reasonably well-dressed, well-nourished and happy. At the beginning we see a large excavation with many men shoveling dirt---a WPA project, I wonder? We then see youngsters enjoying the community swimming pool and playing
a pick-up game of baseball. After a long sequence about the puppies in a large litter, we see individual members of the Britton American Legion Post at a meeting and sitting down to dinner afterwards. They were no doubt veterans of World War I....which makes the earlier scenes of high school boys rather poignant. Just 3 years after this film was made, we were at war and those boys were headed to the service, some perhaps never to return to this small town. Others of them would surely become members of that same Legion post...I love this series as it is almost like entering a time machine...

Reviewer: ERD. - - January 2, 2010
Subject: Part III continues to show Britton,S.D. in 1938-39
Lots more to see in this portion of Mr. Besse's 1938 silent film of Britton, South Dakoka. I enjoyed watching the kids at the town's swimming pool,the town band, the school children, boys playing baseball, the pet dogs, and the men at some club having fun and a dinner. Great photography.

Reviewer: cmitch - - November 9, 2007
Subject: its cool
this video is good for my projects

Reviewer: Spuzz - - October 23, 2004
Subject: I'm so rich I can smack my head on a table!
More various shots of Britton life, starting with construction, going up and down main street, boys playing sports, and other miscellanous shots. Best shots: The shots of the businessmen, and watch how one of them, for the amusement for everyone, bangs his head on the table. Aside from that, nothing much else.

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